Education Minister Anthony Garcia has accused the media of sensationalizing a fracas at the Valencia High School earlier this week.
In an interview at his ministry yesterday, Garcia claimed that reports, which alleged that teachers had locked themselves in classrooms during the incident, were untrue based on a report he received from the school’s principal.
“The report did not for one moment or for one line indicate that teachers had to lock themselves in. That was sensationalizing the issue. That is one of the problems I have,” Garcia said.
He said that the incident stemmed from a confrontation between students from the school and teenagers from another, which occurred outside a fast food restaurant in Arima, outside of school hours.
“Apparently some students are now taking their bad behaviour outside of the school and this is exactly what happened. I understand that there was some measure of retaliation and some persons, who came to school, were not allowed to enter the premises,” Garcia said.
He claimed that the principal’s report denied allegations that people were seen scaling the fence of the school in a reprisal attack on the students involved in the initial altercation.
“That is not true. That is totally false,” Garcia said.
Garcia stated that preliminary investigations revealed that the students were between ages 13 and 14.
“The major perpetrator is a Form Three student and the two others are in Form Two. These minor offences and I see no need to blow this out of proportion,” Garcia said.
Despite Garcia’s claims, short video clips of the incident, posted on social media, showed a female teenager armed with a piece of wood climbing over the fence and entering the school. She appeared to be tackled by a guard almost immediately after she made it over.
Another appears to shows a group of students running away from the locked gate of the school as another group of youths stood outside.
Garcia said the incident was an anomaly as his ministry had noticed a drop in school violence.
“We have been saying that because of the things we have put in place in our school system, we are now seeing the positive results. Incidents of indiscipline and violence like these two are on the wane,” Garcia said.
The incident is being investigated by both the police and the ministry’s Director of School Supervision.